Initial Jobless Claims Surge Most Since 2013

After last week's holiday-shortened exuberance over initial jobless claims, this week's slam back to reality is quite a shock to the "everything is awesome" crowd. Initial jobless claims jumped 31,000 to 313,000 - the biggest percentage rise since December 2013. Continuing claims dropped modestly but remain up around 3.5% over the last quarter - near the worst since 2009.

Trend has changed...

Continuing claims dropped modestly this week but the quarterly trend has shifted...